Thymen Arensman wins Stage 14 of Tour de France as Tadej Pogacar follows Jonas Vingegaard attack before winning sprint for second

Canada News.Net

5 days ago

Paris [France], July 20 (ANI): World champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) showed his charitable side on Saturday after foregoing a chance to complete a hat-trick of successive wins in the Pyrenees on a sodden, cold and gloomy day on the Tour de France.
The main beneficiary of the yellow jersey's largesse was the Dutchman Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), who held on for a maiden Tour stage win from the day's breakaway as Pogacar willingly settled for second place ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) at the ski resort of Superbagneres, back on the race for the first time in 36 years, as per a press release from the Tour de France.
On a day that Belgium's Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) abandoned on the Col du Tourmalet, the breakaway finally went the distance despite late attacks from Austria's Felix Gall (Decathon AG2R La Mondiale) and the two-time champion Vingegaard on the final climb.
Pogacar did not let his benevolence stretch to his big rival, however, and on the home straight, the 26-year-old powered clear from Vingegaard's back wheel to cross the line a handful of seconds clear of the Dane and extended his lead at the top of the standings to 4'13' after one of the toughest stages of the race so far.
With the double Olympic champion Evenepoel throwing in the towel, Germany's Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) rose to third place and took over command of the white jersey youth classification, with Scottish youngster Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) now up in fourth place.
Ireland's Ben Healy (EF Education-EastPost) returned to the top 10 after dropping back from the breakaway and refocusing in the GC group, while Gall rose two places to seventh after his impressive attack 7.5km from the finish.
Arensman's Spanish team-mate Carlos Rodriguez, who joined the Dutchman in the break, climbed up to 10th after the American Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) cracked on the fourth and final climb of a stage described by Vingegaard as 'one of the hardest I have ever ridden'.
Light rain and lower temperatures made for a markedly different backdrop to the stage as the riders left Pau on what was a re-run of Stage 13 of the 1986 Tour - when Greg LeMond turned the tables on his La Vie Claire team-mate Bernard Hinault and put the balls in motion for his famous first Tour triumph.
Numerous attacks peppered the beginning of the 180km test but no move was able to stick thanks to a combination of weary legs and the knowledge of the best part of 5,000m of climbing that lay in store.
Long before Evenepoel waved away the cameras in anger and stepped off his bike, the day's breakaway had finally formed - with Ineos duo Arensman and Rodriguez part of a strong move that also included Canadian veteran Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech), the Norwegian all-rounder Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Spanish climber Enric Mas (Movistar) and the polka dot jersey of Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious).
Visma placed both Sepp Kuss and Simon Yates in the move, suggesting some possible GC aggression from their leader Vingegaard, who, before the stage, insisted that the Tour was far from over despite his four-minute deficit on Pogacar.
It was Martinez, however, who rode up the road on his own in pursuit of the Souvenir Jacques Goddet and the 20 king-of-the-mountain points over the summit of the Tourmalet, which was clad in clouds.
Martinez had some dicey moments on the sodden descent as rain tipped down, but the diminutive Frenchman retained his lead going over the second climb, the Col d'Aspin, before sitting up and waiting for Kuss and the French climber Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step).
The trio held a gap of 1'50' over a strong chase group of 14 riders that included Johannessen, Yates, Arensman, Rodriguez, Mas and Woods, as well as Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe), Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling), Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla), Gregor Muhlberger and Einer Rubio (both Movistar), Sergio Higuita (XDS Astana) and Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies).
But when UAE took up the chase behind, it looked like Pogacar had another victory in mind, with Nils Politt putting on a huge shift to whittle the lead down from four to two minutes ahead of the Col de Peyresourde.
Once the three leaders were caught by the chasers, Arensman's attack with 36km remaining completely changed the dynamic of the stage, with the 25-year-old climber quickly opening a gap of over one minute on his fellow escapees.
Arensman led over the Peyresourde before extending his lead on the descent to start the final climb to Superbagneres with over three minutes on the yellow jersey group, who were picking off the remaining riders from the break one by one.
Returning for the first time since 1989, the final climb to Superbagneres - with its average gradient of 7.3% - took its toll on Arensman. But with Pogacar seemingly unwilling to pull the trigger behind, the pendulum swung in favour of the Dutchman and his Ineos team, without a win on the Tour for two years.
Johannessen led the chase behind but was soon caught by the pack before limiting his losses to preserve his place in the top 10. When an attack finally came, it was not from either of the Big Two but from Gall, who tried his luck.
Vingegaard finally threw the dice with an attack which provoked a reply only from Pogacar, Lipowitz and Onley. But as they reeled in Gall, the two top riders in this year's Tour - indeed, in the past five Tours - went clear, with only Arensman further up the road.
With a few kilometres remaining, Pogacar toyed with an attack of his own, but quickly knocked it off. Whether the world champion was tired from his previous exploits or simply happy to let someone else take the spoils was uncertain; Pogacar merely hugged his rival's back wheel all the way up the climb.
This stalemate played into Arensman's hands, and he was able to go one better than his second-place finish in the Massif Central on Monday to secure a maiden Tour stage win.
'Going to my first Tour, I wanted to experience everything, and I had to be pretty patient in the first week because it was pretty punchy and I had to wait until the mountains,' Arensman said as quoted by a press release from the Tour de France.
Pogacar kicked clear of Vingegaard at the finish to secure second place at 1'08'' and move 4'13'' clear of his Danish rival in the general classification.
'We wanted to go try to win the stage with one of [Kuss and Yates] but they couldn't follow Thymen Arensman on the final climb. He did a good job and deserved the stage. I thought [Pogacar] would try on the final climb but when I saw that he wasn't going to try, I decided to attack myself,' Vingegaard said.
Pogacar's second place on the final climb saw him add more KOM points to his tally, but Martinez's haul from the breakaway was enough to see the Frenchman move into the lead of the polka dot jersey standings. (ANI)